Travel Talk: Do You Have a Holiday/Vacation Wardrobe?

Do you have clothes that only seem to make an appearance when you're on holiday/vacation?

I was doing a little "spring cleaning" the other day i.e. digging out the industrial sized Tupperware from under my bed and unearthing breezy Zara blouses and thin Sandro cotton dresses that haven't seen the light of day for, well, at least six months or so. And then I dug a little deeper and found some articles of clothing that don't ever see the light of day ... unless I'm on a tropical beach somewhere.

Don't worry - no cargo shorts or fanny packs (that's a "bum bag" for all you Brits) here, but rather an alarming array of off-the-shoulder dresses, tunics, and beach cover-ups that I'd feel self-conscious wearing down Oxford Street (but, no, who seriously wears a beach cover-up on Oxford Street? Actually ... I think I've seen a few) but whip out at the earliest opportunity as soon as I've got my trapezoidal feet in the sand.

(Sidenote: John has the worst holiday shirt, EVER. He bought it unsupervised during a trip to the Caribbean, as I recall ... I've been begging him to get rid of it ever since I first laid eyes on it. It features the most puzzling color combination of stripes that I've ever seen. Thankfully, it only comes out during holidays, and whenever he wears it, I sit across from him and grimace, so he can tell how much I dislike it. I'm the worst.)

Still, there's something about pulling out brightly colored bikinis (oh, who am I kidding? I mostly wear black. And more black.) and tops with pom-poms or tassle details that makes me smile and conjure up the scent of Hawaiian Tropic sunscreen. My vacation wardrobe essentials usually include: a big floppy sunhat (burnt my ears to a literal crisp in Thailand while island hopping on a boat without one), a pair of espadrilles for trekking around that I can simply kick off at the end of the day, Havaianas flip flops for the beach, a beat-up pair of denim shorts, a huge, loose-woven scarf that I can throw over my shoulders at night, and lots and lots of easy sundresses in jersey, or another light-weight fabric. Oh, and a linen shirt.

What about you? What do you pack in your suitcase?

p.s. Also ... the worst thing for my paycheck lately is LIKEtoKNOW.it. Do you use it? Basically, you sign up, follow the account on Instagram (as well as whatever account uses LIKEtoKNOW.it), and if you "like" a photo, you'll get the product information emailed directly to your inbox. So convenient, and so dangerous for online shopping. Luckily, most of the items featured are usually from the States, so the hassle of shipping costs/customs charges/inability to return items prevents me from clicking "buy"! That's my little "confessions of a shopaholic", um, confession of the day.

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